Historical Introduction to Studies Among the Sedentary Indians of New Mexico Part 12

[105] Castaneda, _Relation_, i. cap. xii. p. 71; ii. cap. v. p. 176.

Juan Jaramillo, _Relation du Voyage fait a la Nouvelle Terre_, app. vi.

to _Voyage de Cibola_, p. 371. Fray Agustin de Vetancurt, _Cronica de la Provincia del Santo Evangelio de Mexico_ (edition of 1871), p. 323.

Gaspar Castano de la Sosa, _Memoria del Descubrimiento que ... hizo en el Nuevo Mexico, siendo teniente del Gobernador y Capitan General del Nuevo-Reino de Leon_, July 27, 1590, in vol. xv. of _Doc.u.mentos Ineditos de los Archivos de Indias_, p. 244. The latter though, as well as Castaneda and Jaramillo, mentions evidently building _A_, but there cannot be the slightest doubt that _B_ was erected for the same purpose; to wit, as a dwelling.

[106] They are evidently moulded. Their size is about 0.28 m. 15 m.--11 in. 6 in.--and straw is mixed with the soil. The appearance is very much as if the adobe had been put in as a "mending;" and I am decidedly of the opinion that the northern section is the latest, and erected after 1540.

[107] It is very much like the stone-work of the Moqui Pueblos in Arizona, according to the photographs in possession of the Bureau of Ethnology at Was.h.i.+ngton, D. C.; and in some respects to the walls of the great house described by the Hon. L. H. Morgan, _On the Ruins of an Ancient Stone Pueblo on the Animas River, Eleventh and Twelfth Reports of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology_, etc.; also to those figured by Dr.

William H. Jackson, _Tenth Annual Report of the United States Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories_, 1878, plate lxii. fig. 1, from the Ruins of the Rio Chaco. Compare photograph No. 6. I am led to suspect that the greater or less regularity of the courses was entirely dependent upon the kind of stone on hand, and not upon the mechanical skill employed.

[108] I am just (Sept. 9) informed by Governor Wallace, that the Sierra de Tecolote, east of the ruins, contains probably gypsum, even in the form of alabaster. It is certain that nothing like lime-kilns or places where lime might have been burnt are found at any moderate distance from the ruins. The surrounding rocks, up to head of the valley and to the _mesa_, contain deposits of white, yellow, and red carbonates of lead, often copper-stained, and very impure, therefore proportionately light in weight. However, we have very positive information as to how they made their plaster, etc., in Castaneda, _Voyage de Cibola_, ii. cap. iv.

pp. 168, 169. He says: "They have no lime, but make a mixture of ashes, soil, and of charcoal, which replace it very well; for although they raise their houses to four stories, the walls have not more than half an ell in width. They form great heaps of pine [thym] and reeds, and set fire to them; whenever this ma.s.s is reduced to ashes and charcoal, they throw over it a large quant.i.ty of soil and water, and mix it all together. They knead it into round blocks, which they dry, and of which they make use in lieu of stones, coating the whole with the same mixture." Subst.i.tuting for the "round blocks" the stones found at Pecos, we have the whole process thoroughly explained, for indeed the mud contains bits of charcoal, as the specimens sent prove. The white coat, however, is not explained. I must state here, however, that I found the latter only in such parts of _A_, as well as of _B_, as appeared to be most recent in occupation and in construction. Further investigations at other pueblos may yet solve the mystery.

[109] See Plate VIII.

[110] Compare, in regard to the outer (western) wall of B, and also in regard to the inner wall, Lieut. James H. Simpson, _Journal of a Military Reconnoissance from Santa Fe, New-Mexico, to the Navajo Country, Executive Doc.u.ment 64_, 31st Congress, 1st section, 1850; plate 41, no. 5. Also, L. H. Morgan, _On an Ancient Stone Pueblo on the Animas River, Peabody Museum Reports_, 1880. The latter is particularly suggestive.

[111] Compare Castaneda, _Voyage de Cibola_, ii. cap. iv. pp. 171, 172.

"There is a piece reserved for the kitchen, and another one for to grind the corn. This last one is apart; in it is found an oven and three stones sealed in masonry." Simpson, _Journal_, etc, p. 62, description of a fireplace.

[112] Simpson, p. 62, _Fireplace and Smoke-escape at the Pueblo of Santo Domingo_. The vent was directly over the hearth. I expect to visit Santo Domingo shortly.

[113] Mr. Thomas Munn found about the church a stone hatchet, a fragment of a stone pipe (?), and many arrow-heads. These he kindly promised to me, even authorizing me to get them at the place where he had deposited them, and which lay on the line of my daily tramp to the ruins.

Unfortunately, when I reached the place, the objects were already gone.

Mrs. Kozlowski informed me that copper rings (bracelets) were of very common occurrence among the ruins. Her statement was fully confirmed by Sr. Baca and others. She also spoke of "the heads of little idols"

having been plentiful at one time. Gaspar Castano de la Sosa, _Memoria del Descubrimiento_, etc., _Doc.u.mentos Ineditos_, vol. xv. p. 244, speaking of a pueblo which is evidently Pecos, says: "Porque tiene muchos idolos que atras nos olvidaba de declarar." Antonio de Espejo, _El Viaje que hizo_ ... in Hackluyt's _Voyages, Navigations, and Discoveries of the English Nation_, 1600 A.D., pp. 457-464. A somewhat abbreviated and frequently unreliable copy of Espejo's letter, dated "Sant Salvador de la Nueva-Espana, 23 April, 1584," mentions a district two days east from Bernalillo, inhabited by pueblo Indians: "Los quales tienen y adoran idolos."

[114] On first sight this building appears circular, but I soon became satisfied that it was a rectangle.

[115] They may have been the "almacenas", or granaries (storage-rooms), of which I speak further on. "Outhouses" are referred to by Castaneda.

(Part ii. cap. iv. p. 172.)

[116] One or the other may also have been an Estufa, for I saw no round structures about _B_. Castaneda (part ii. cap. iv. p. 169) says: "There are square and round ones." It is true that the Estufas are usually in the courts; but when there was no court, as in this case, there could be no Estufa inside.

[117] Pl. I., Fig. 5, shows cross-sections of the "body" of the _mesilla_ on which _A_ stands, along the lines indicated. The surface of _A_ was therefore very irregular and difficult to build upon for people who could not remove and fit the hard rock.

[118] This may have been caused, in part, by filling with rubbish from the surrounding walls.

[119] Such double houses are mentioned by Castaneda (part ii. cap. v. p.

177). Speaking of "Cicuye," he says: "Those houses fronting outwards ('du cote de la campagne') are backed up ('adossees') against those which stand towards the court."

[120] The dimensions given by Gen. J. H. Simpson, _Reconnoissance_, etc., pp. 79-82, of the pueblos--"Pintado," "Bonito," and "Penasca blanca"--on the Rio Chaco vary, as far as the circuit is concerned, between 1,200 and 1,700 feet, "about." Dr. W. H. Jackson, _Geographical Survey_, etc., 1876, has measured these ruins, and gives the following dimensions: "Pueblo Bonito," 544 314; "Penasca blanca," 499 363 (only 3 sides of the rectangle being built up); "Pueblo Pintado" (2 sides), 238 174; "Pueblo Alto" (3 wings), 360 200 and 170. "Pueblo Bonito" therefore alone comes up to the standard of Pecos. The latter, however, is larger still, as, by adding to the perimeter given that of the northern annex (about 90 m.--295 ft.), we obtain a total of 450 metres, or 1,480 feet. The difference, if any, is not considerable; and I merely advert to the fact to show that the old ruins of New Mexico, comparatively neglected, are fully as important in size as any of those further north, besides being completely identical in plan, structure, and material. Furthermore, the pottery is identical. This was already recognized in 1776 by Father Silvestre Velez Escalante, _Diario y Derrotero de los Nuevos Descubrimientos de Tierras a Rumbos N. N. Oe.

Oe. del Nuevo Mexico_, MSS. at the Library of Congress, fol. 118, on the San Buenaventura (Green River), and in his letter, dated Santa Fe, 2 April, 1778, _Doc.u.mentos para la Historia de Mexico_, 3a serie, vol. i.

p. 124.

[121] _On the Ruins of an Ancient Stone Pueblo on the Animas River_, Peabody Reports, 11 and 12.

[122] I must here call attention to a singular coincidence. Among the ruins of Uxmal in Yucatan there are, aside from the "Teocalli," or medicine mound, two general forms of structure,--one narrow rectangle like _B_, and hollow rectangles like _A_. The "Casa del Gobernador"

would correspond to the former, and the "Casa de las Monjas" to the latter. Of course, there is dissimilarity between the house of the "Governor" and _B_, in so far as the former contains halls and the latter but cells. Still the fact is interesting that, whereas the great northern pueblos have each but one house alone, here, for the south, we have already two buildings within one and the same enclosure, similar in form and size to those of Central America. I call attention to this fact, though well remembering at the same time the friendly advice of Major J. W. Powell, the distinguished chief of the Bureau of Ethnology at Was.h.i.+ngton, "not to attempt to trace relations.h.i.+ps."

[123] _Relation du Voyage de Cibola_, ii. cap. v. p. 176.

[124] I am informed by Governor Wallace, and have permission to quote him, that these elevated plateaux grow exceedingly tall wheat, rye, and oats. He has seen oats whose stalks were 6 feet long and 1-3/4 inches in diameter. The heads were proportionally large.

[125] He became adopted, as I am told, from being, as a boy, a.s.sistant to the sacristan of the church of Pecos.

[126] It was Mr. John D. McRae who, together with Mr. Thomas Munn, led me to this spot. Subsequently the former, who has been for nearly twenty years among the northern Indians (in Canada and Oregon), gave me some valuable information in regard to their sign-language. He affirms that it is very highly developed and extensively practised by them; that tribes of entirely different stock-languages can converse with each other freely; and that he was himself present at one time when the Crees and the Blackfeet arranged for a pitched fight on the day to follow, the parley consisting almost exclusively of signs. Thus, killing is indicated by the spanning of a bow and the motion of throwing down; walking, by shoving both hands forwards successively, etc.; the time of day is very correctly given by describing an arc from E. to W. (facing S.) up to the point where the sun stands at the specified hour. These signs are not new to my distinguished friend, Lieutenant-Colonel G.

Mallery, to whom science owes the gift of this new branch of inquiry, but still they are interesting to those who may be less familiar with it. In regard to connection of this "sign-language" and Indian "pictography," Mr. McRae has told me the following: Whenever an Indian breaks up his camp, and wishes to leave behind him information in what direction and how far he is going, he plants into the ground near the fire a twig or stick, and breaks it so that it forms an acute angle, planting the other end in the ground also in the direction in which he intends to camp the following evening. The following would very well give the appearance of this little mark, a.s.suming the Indian to travel from N. to S.:--

[Ill.u.s.tration]

If he intends to go S. for three days it will look thus:--

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Fractional days are indicated by corresponding shorter limbs. If his direction is first S. and then E., this would be a top view of the bent twig, a.s.suming that he travels two days S. and three days W.:--

[Ill.u.s.tration]

The connection between this expedient and sign-language, knowing that, as Dr. W. J. Hoffmann, of Was.h.i.+ngton City, has informed me, the sign for "lodge" is an imitation of the tent,--that is, holding both hands up and the tips of the fingers together at a steep angle,--becomes very apparent. Through it pictography is easily reached.

[127] Sr. E. Vigil has just informed me that the notion is current that all the Indians of the New Mexican pueblos buried their dead in this manner. Among the Mexicans and the Christianized Indians it is the rule to bury the dead around the church or in sight of it.

[128] There is still another ruin much farther down the railroad, near to a place called "El Pueblo." I was informed of its existence, but have not as yet been able to visit it.

[129] Or rather towards the pueblo of San Cristoval. The latter was the chief place of the Tanos Indians, of which stock there are still a few left at the town of Galisteo.

[130] The following is an approximate sketch of these structures. This sketch is made without reference to size or plan, merely in order to show the relative position of the graves (_a_, _a_, _a_, _a_). It will be seen that the a.n.a.logy with the grave of mound _V_, building _A_, is very striking; also with the grave discovered by Mr. Walters, and the wall above the corrugated pottery west of the Arroyo de Pecos.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Graves]

[131] To judge from the report of General Simpson (p. 68), these early traditions must be very meagre. His informant, the celebrated "Hoosta-Nazle," is now dead. Of the Pecos adults then living at Santo Domingo, a daughter is still alive, and married to an Indian of the latter pueblo. General (then lieutenant) Simpson was at Jemez in 1849.

[132] _Memoria del Descubrimiento_, etc., p. 238. "Tienen mucha loza de los colorados y pintadas y negras, platos, caxetes, saleros, almoficos, xicaras muy galanas, alguna de la loza esta vidriada."

[133] W. H. Holmes, _Geographical Survey_, part iii., p. 404, plate xliv. "This plate is intended to ill.u.s.trate the corrugated and indented ware. Heretofore specimens of this cla.s.s have been quite rare, as it is not made by any of the modern tribes."

[134] Holmes, pp. 404, 405.

[135] Even the _estufa_ and the _almacena_ are found. The round depression near the road to the Rio Pecos (marked _L_ on the general plan) is evidently an Estufa, while the circular ruin which I met upon the ap.r.o.n of the mesa during my ascent appears very much like a storehouse.

[136] House _A_ alone appears in these reports; but from the statement that the tribe mustered 500 warriors, it seems probable that _B_ was also inhabited. 2,500 souls could hardly have found room in the 585 cells of _A_, The number of warriors given is doubtless a loose estimate.

[137] San Diego, now in ruins, about 13 miles N. of the pueblo Jemez, was the old pueblo of that tribe. It was the scene of a b.l.o.o.d.y struggle in 1692, according to the story of Hoosta-Nazle, given to General Simpson in 1849. _Reconnoissance_, etc., p. 68. Diego de Vargas (_Carta_, Oct. 16, 1692), _Doc.u.mentos para la Historia de Mexico_, 3a series, i. p. 131. "Los Gemex y los de Santo-Domingo se hallaban en otro tambien nuevo, dentro de la Sierra, a tres leguas del pueblo antiguo de Gemex." Nearly all the pueblos, upon the approach of the Spaniards, fled to steep and high mesas.

[138] This is the same canon whose source on the "Mesa de Pecos" I have visited, and where the great bell was found. It is the natural pathway, from the W. and S. W., up to the heights overlooking the valley of Pecos.

[139] A. S. Gatchet, _Zwolf Sprachen aus dem Sudwesten Nord-Amerika's_, Weimar, 1876, p. 41.